Looking Successful

Just by viewing a woman's face, people can tell whether she is more professionally accomplished than others. In a study at Tufts University in Boston, psychologists Nicholas Rule and Nalini Ambady asked 170 men and women to look at black-and-white head shots of 20 female CEOs. (The participants were unaware of the women's jobs.) Some of the volunteers evaluated each face for its indication of various personality traits; others predicted each woman's likely success at running a company. Matching the results of an earlier study of male CEOs, the researchers found that the women whose faces were thought to suggest greater competence or leadership ability in fact earned higher salaries and led businesses that were more profitable. But the researchers don't know which facial features in particular were perceived as indicating leadership potential: "This is a topic that we're investigating," Rule says. It's also unclear how to explain the current findings. Companies may seek managers whose faces possess this quality, or it's possible that such people have a greater tendency to pursue top executive positions, the researchers theorize.